About the exhibition
One of the world’s most prominent living artists, Bruce Nauman (b. Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1941; lives and works in New Mexico) has contributed to writing the history of contemporary art since the mid-1960s, thanks to his pioneering research across a variety of media, including installation, video, sculpture, performance, photography, drawing, and sound. His art is distinguished by an interest in understanding the human experience and its conventions, as well as the inner workings of the psyche, which he investigates through the perception of the body, and interactions with space, time, and language. Nauman’s work also makes frequent use of wordplay, with which he explores alternative methods of communication.
Organized in collaboration with Tate Modern in London (7 October 2020—21 February 2021) and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (5 June—24 October 2021), the exhibition at Pirelli HangarBicocca focuses on Nauman’s spatial and architectural practice. In addition to several works already shown in London and Amsterdam, the exhibition includes a large number of his iconic corridors and rooms. Highlighting interrelations, developments and formal variations, for the first time the show explores his diverse experimentation in the areas of spatial experience and architectural scale, as well as the use of light, sound, language and video in this corpus of work.